Hong Kong minister backs city’s care teams despite critical viral video

Hong Kong’s home and youth affairs minister has defended the competency of the city’s community care teams amid doubts about their conduct, maintaining that all team members are unpaid volunteers and every penny of taxpayers’ money goes directly to community service.

Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak Mei-kuen also said on Friday that it was premature to report on the performance of the city’s 452 care teams across 18 districts when they were only halfway through their two-year service.

But some of the teams’ conduct raised eyebrows after a viral video by Chinese University’s student publication Ubeat showed some members’ callous or indifferent approach to their activities.

The video showed one team in Tuen Mun filling a youth seminar with elderly residents, and another in Tsuen Wan putting team vests on non-members for a group photo during a visit to the national security-themed exhibition in Tsim Sha Tsui to create an impression of stronger participation.

Local council lors and officials also declined student reporters’ requests for records on the team’s work and performance, with one official saying only that “KPIs had been met”.

The home affairs secretary told reporters after a community care team event on Friday that authorities would only publish their report at the end of the care teams’ two-year contracts so “comprehensive information” of what the teams had achieved could be included.